Stalker-1979

After viewing Tarkovsky's "Stalker", the members of our group feel as if our movie viewing experience has been enriched in a new way. The movie was filmed in a unique and interesting way from beginning to end. The film was shot in black and white, but also had sequences of color. This made viewers feel as if they were entering into a dream. Also, Tarkovsky's strategical use of smoke helped transition scenes effectively.



According to Strugatsky, who worked for Tarkovsky, "The Stalker script was unbelievably difficult. The main problem was that Tarkovsky, being a film director, saw the world differently from us, constructed his imaginary future world in the film differently from us, and usually was unable to make us understand his own unique, fundamentally individual view." Fully comprehending "Stalker" is difficult considering Tarkovsky's unique individualism. However, from the outside looking in, the visual effects and film panning are truly unique and effective. The characters Tarkovsky represents in "Stalker" are emotionally detached and sorrowful in our eyes. This may be how Tarkovsky wants us to view the characters just as well as it may be a cultural barrier. According to Reed Johnson, LA Times writer, "What sets Tarkovsky apart from Western filmmakers is his Russian Orthodox belief in self sacrifice as the ultimate expression of spirituality, a conviction that links him directly to such Russian proto-modernists as Fyodor Dostoevsky."

Another interesting aspect of Tarkovsky's films include the repetitive use of visual tropes. According to Robert Bird, author of Andrei Tarkovsky and Contemporary Art: Medium and Mediation, "Coins play an analogous role in Solaris (1972), Stalker (1979) and Sacrifice (1986). In Stalker pre-war Estonian coins feature amidst the submerged detritus of civilisation that the camera surveys in a sweeping dolly-shot over the waterlogged landscape, while the titular character lies asleep on a patch of mud." The coins "mark the borderline between waking reality and the world of dream."



Works Cited:

Bird, R. (2008, August 1). Andrei tarkovsky and contemporary art: medium and mediation. Retrieved April 21, 2010

Strugatsky, B. N. (2004). Working for tarkovsky. Retrieved April 21, 2010

Johnson, R. (2010, January 22). Andrei tarkovsky reconsidered in lacma retrospective. Los Angeles Times, 2.